I am writing to you in order to bring you the horrific news that our TianZi Mountain Rainforest Farm burned into ashes in front of my eyes yesterday. Please see below a brief account on the incident. 90% of the land is destroyed, the only surviving part being a part of the Guerlain orchid path and some valleys. In these moments of grief, and despite the ecological catastrophe, I try to regain my powers so I can inform you about the destruction of what is also your creation. We fought with all our strength, but we had to run for our lives. Even the forest around the memorial grave of Josef was burned. I wanted to stay in fire at that moment.
Fortunately, the old oak, Josef's soulmate, still stands there, together with his grave. My seeds of hope survived, I hope the same for those that could hide into the earth and escape the fire. Who can say? The fire continued until there was nothing else to burn. But I am relieved to know that the major part of production sites of our orchids are not affected, although thousands of living specimens of rare wild orchids are gone, our tea trees and saplings are gone. I am planning to have photos and a first evaluation of the disaster in the next 24 hours. Obviously many things will have to be re-thought and re-planned and new decisions will have to be made. We will restore the site, but we need time.
There is already international awareness about the incident, since it was reported yesterday by The Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2011/feb/28/blaze-chinese-rainforestIn the following hours, we will make a press release to the main press media. We will keep you posted in order to forward this to journalists or other social media. We will make this an opportunity to say internationally "enough is enough" with the ongoing destruction of our forests. Please help us!
Yours truly,
Minguo
Tuesday, March 1st 2011
Land around the TianZi Rainforestation Farm has been continuously burning for the last few days. On February 28, 2011, the fire run out of control by virtue of high temperatures and prevailing strong winds. At about 14:30 pm, the fire entered the borders of the TianZi-owned property and spread rapidly with inferno-like flames. About a dozen of TianZi staff have been fighting fires around the periphery of the model farm during the morning as part of fire-preventing routine which includes patrolling the 30 kilometers of already installed 10m-wide fire lines, weeding and grass-cutting on a weekly basis. This could not prevent the disaster, as wild fires from more than 30 spots were coming in simultaneously from all directions spreading and intensifying by the minute. An international delegation of partners, researchers and sponsors had to evacuate the premises in the last minute, due to the eminent emergency. Over the afternoon, the fire engulfed the joint project sites of TianZi, designed and implemented together with numerous international collaborators which include Guerlain, NatureLife-International, New Nordic, Lufthansa and the University of Hohenheim-Stuttgart. Two newly built traditional village houses on the project site were completely destroyed. The houses of a Lahu community which lies within the TianZi area escaped the blaze which destroyed all the surrounding subsistence agricultural land of that village. A staff car was rescued literally at the last minute. By 20:00 pm, hundreds of local people have gathered on the spot, though unable to stop the catastrophe, which unfolded over night. The light of the next day witnessed a wipe-out of 90% of the 6 km2 conservation estate, as well as extended areas of mature native secondary forests surrounding it. One member of a Lahu community living inside the TianZi land survived the blast unconscious. Even the forest around memorial grave of TianZi founder Dr. Josef Margraf was burned, fortunately, the huge oak, Josef's soulmate still stand, together with grave not effected. More than 3,500,000 planted seedlings and more than 6 tons of stored and dispersed seeds of indigenous plant wildlife and wild tea trees were lost. These formed the very base for Rainforestation Farming, which is of fundamental importance to enable the rehabilitation of formerly degraded forest lands in the region. Over the previous four years, this was performed in the TianZi Rainforestation model farm by enrichment planting of hundreds of indigenous tree species, aiming to restore key environmental functions, including water retention and soil protection, while conserving and restoring local biodiversity. In this context, hundreds of thousands of wild specimens, in particular many rare, endemic and endangered orchid species have been rescued from burnt lands from all over Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, slowly transforming the model farm into a growing heritage of the region’s biodiversity. These areas have faced the same fate as the TianZi Biodiversity Research & Conservation Sanctuary, as monocultures of alien species -mainly rubber plantations- have been expanding in alarming rates and density.First hints derived from local witnesses, including a former village head, about the reasons for this firestorm point into three major directions:
1. The traditional burning of rice-field straw which has also threatened our land in 2009, when it was performed under uncontrolled conditions. Following that, we have communicated with the local farmers and agreed on the cease of the activity during high-risk times and without prior notice to our project staff on the site. 2. Moves to expand a recently established cattle ranch in the vicinity of the TianZi Rainforestation Farming site using clearing by burning of grassland and forested areas. 3. Untimely intentional prescribed burning of combustible forest litter by the official forestry authorities, and by these means turning a reasonable intention into a very dangerous situation. In addition, no preventive measures in case of emergency, like fire extinction equipment, personnel and vehicles was in place.Controlled firing should be done:
1. In accordance with ALL land-owners 2. In accordance with the local wind and weather conditions and not just on any day 3. With all kinds of the necessary precautions in placeNone of these has been existing on that very day. Therefore, about 4 years of hard work and the respective finances, as well as natural stretches of forest were gone just in a few hours. At this point, we cannot decide whether it is making sense to commence enrichment planting with new seedlings, until at least two rainy seasons have passed, which is estimated for the end of 2012. This will allow us to observe whether the advance of natural re-growth is taking place as expected, and whether the soil humidity allows to start from scratch again.
This disaster demonstrates that it is the time for serious decisions on kind of development is envisioned for these mountains. Whether this implicates a complete removal of any natural environment in this borderline of China, and accepting that this landscape will not be of even any economical use at all in about 10-15 years. It must be decided now by ALL people involved, but in particular by the government, whether they would like to have a destructive development or a desirable development. It cannot be that entire landscapes are used up, with thousands of people losing their homelands, and therefore it is now high time to decide. We pledge to continue focusing ALL efforts to preserve the unique remaining ancient tea forests of our region, by further promoting a sustainable near-to-nature agriculture. We call for all those affected or in charge, to join efforts with our commitment to respond to local, national and global environmental issues, in stopping now any misuse of landscapes by promoting developments that result in biological, environmental and economical disasters. We mourn for the loss of our co-creation and we are grateful that there were no human casualties. We would also like to thank the hundreds of local people that tried to prevent the worst, and hope that this will be another wake-up call for a joint effort in protecting and reconstructing a unique living landscape in these noble mountains. Xishuangbanna and the Bulang Mountains are too precious to be left to the greed and irresponsibility of just some people.WE are prepared to give, WE are prepared to forgive and WE will not give up.
Minguo
TianZi Biodiversity Research & Development Centre Mekong Hill Garden 666100 Jinghong Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China 0086-691-2142 629